Knitted garment and method of making same



(No Model.)

W. A. O'BRIEN. KNITTED GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME. No. 500,269.Patented June 27, 1893.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER A. OBRIEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS KNITTED GARMENT AND M ETHODOF MAKING SAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 500,269, dated June 27,1893. Applicaticn filed February 10, 1898. SerialNo. 461,780- (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it ntay concern: 7

Be it known that I. WALTER A. OBRIEN, of Boston, county of Suffolk,State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Knitted Garmentsand Methods of Making the Same, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, likeletters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to improve that class of knittedgarment commonly designated as a sweater, and also to improve the methodof its production whereby it is made more comfortable for the wearer.

In the drawings Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, are diagrammatical viewsillustrative of the method of producing the garment, and Fig. 5 on asmaller scale represents the sweater com-- pleted. I

The garment herein to be described may be produced on a Lamb or otherknitting machine having two rows of needles, so inclined one withrelation to the other, and so actuated that the needles of one row will,in their reciprocations, cross between the needles of the other row, ascustomary in knitting ribbed fabric.

Sweaters as now commonly made have long collars which are rolled overand down loosely about the neck. This collar works up, varies in heightin use and leaves, at times, more or less of the neck of the wearerexposed, this dilference in exposure tending toward producing throattrouble, and further, itis sometimes rolled down so as to present toogreat thickness. It has been my aim to make a double collar which shallremain permanently in the same position and which will present a moreuniform stifiness about the neck. To this end I have provided the bodyof the sweater with a tubular collar knitted to the body of the garment,andI have also devised a method of knitting whereby the garment iswithout a sewed seam at the top of the shoulder.

In the manufacture of my improved garment I set up the yarn for thecollar on the knitting needles, using enough needles near the center ofthe series of needles to make the collar for one-half of the garment. Ithen knit a ribbed web as a, Fig. 1, of a length suf ficient forone-half the doubled. collar, the edge it where the knitting iscommenced being a finished edge. When the knitting has been carried tothe point a the operator will stop the machine, and it will beunderstood that both rows of needles will have upon them loops of theknitted fabric. The operator will now pick off or transfer the loopsfrom one row of needles onto the needles of the other row previouslyinstrumental in knit ting the collar. WVith the loops all on needles inone of the rows, the operator will bring up to the needles, from whichhe has just removed the collar loops, the end a of the collar fabric andwill pick its loops onto the needles just left bare for their reception.Next the operator will bring into action at each side of the needlesthen holding the loops at both ends of one-half of the collar, saidcollar being, it will be understood, doubled over on itself, as in fulllines Fig. 2, a sufficient number of needles to form loops for theshoulders of the garment each side the neck, and the operator will thenagain set up the thread, this time on the extra needles so brought intoaction, and will start the machine, feed all the said needles withthread and knit one-half of the body of the shirt as b, said body beingshown by dotted lines Fig. 2 and full linesFig. 3, the knitting beingcontinued until the body portion has been knitted of the proper ordesired length, and that half of the garment is run off the needles.

Fig. 3, in side and edge View, shows one half of the sweater made inaccordance with my invention.

To make the second half of the garment I proceed first to make thesecond half of the collar, and I make the said half a of the collar, aspreviously described of the half a, and double the collar puttingtheloops at the end of the collar fabric upon the set of needles leftbare for their reception, as described of the half a and as shown inFig. 2. Then extra needles at each side those holding the loops of thehalf 0 of the collar as just described are thrown into operation, andthe first half b of the garment, see Fig. 3, previously knitted, istaken again to the machine, and the loops in the line b of the body,which is the line of the top of the shoulder of the garment, are putonto the needles, at the sides of the second half a of the collaralready on the needles, the machine is started and yarn is fed to theneedles and the second half at of the garment is knitted onto the loopsof the two ends of the part c of the collar, and to the portions 1) ofthe first half I) of the body, and the knitting is continued until thesecond half d of the body is of the proper length, when the fabric soproduced is run ofi the needles.

Fig. 4 shows the fabric for the collar and body knitted together. Now tomake of the fabric in Fig. t a shirt such as shown in Fig. 5, the sideedges of the foldedor tube-like collar parts a, c, are stitched togetherthus completing the neck, the same being ttlbular, and the edges 2-2,33, are brought together and united to form a tubular body, as shown inFig. 5, leaving however proper spaces for the arms.

I am not aware prior to my invention that one-half the body of a sweaterhas ever been knitted onto a collar and the second half of the collarthen made, and the second half of the body then knitted onto the secondhalf of the collar and the shoulder parts of the first half of the body,and my improved method is not therefore limited to making the collardouble or tubular in all instances.

I have not herein shown the sleeve of the sweater, but it will beobvious that the cufi end of the sleeve and the body thereof may be madein just the same manner as described for making the collar and the bodyof the sweater, and by the term collar and body, as designated in theclaims, I intend to cover the end as equivalent to the collar, and thebody of the sleeve as equivalent to the body of the sweater.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. As an improved article of manufacture, a knitted garment composed ofa circular body having a tubular collar knitted thereto, substantiallyas described.

2. Theherein described method of knitting a garment having a collar,which consists in knitting one-half the collar, then knitting one-halfthe body to the collar, knitting the other half of the collar, andfinally knitting the second half of the body onto the second half of thecollar and as a continuation of the shoulder portions of the first halfof the body, substantially as described.

3. The herein described method of knitting a garment having a collar,which consists in knitting one-half the collar, doubling the collar ontothe needles, then knitting one-half the body to the collar, knitting theotherhalf of the collar, doubling the second half of the collar onto theneedles, and finally knitting the second half of the body onto thesecond half of the collar and as a continuation of the shoulder portionsof the first half of the body, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WALTER A. OBRIEN.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, LAURA MANIX.

